Ethanol and Harleys
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Intermediate
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 35
Likes: 0
Ethanol and Harleys
Now that almost all gas contains some Ethanol, has this caused anyone any troubles? Do additives need to be added? The reason for the question is I recently had a friend that had the liner in the tank start peeling and caused all kinds of trouble. Could this be due to the Ethanol or something else?
Road Captain
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 507
Likes: 1
From: Portland, OR
How old was the bike? This should happen on newer bikes. Biggest issue is that the efi bikes with the narrower band sensors might have problems if the eth jumps above 10%, but should be fine at 10%. Also, gas with eth can drink up water and cause problems. So use fresh gas and use gas stabil or such for winter storage.
In Portland area, it is illegal to sell gas without eth and it sucks. Seems to run fine, but we lose 3-4 mpg.
Older bikes can have severe fuel system issues, esp any rubber.
In Portland area, it is illegal to sell gas without eth and it sucks. Seems to run fine, but we lose 3-4 mpg.
Older bikes can have severe fuel system issues, esp any rubber.
Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 2,216
Likes: 102
From: Central Illinois
In my area its very hard to find gasoline that does not have ethanol so I do run it some of the time. Has not caused any trouble as the bikes are built to handle ethanol. Only thing I do notice is a slight drop in fuel mileage on the highway. There probably is a very slight drop in performance also but am unable to feel it in any way.
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 9,206
Likes: 372
From: Central Illinois, Between I-80 and I-74
To say that ethanol caused the problems is a bit of stretch IMO.
Road Master
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 805
Likes: 4
From: The Live Free or Die State
I went to Shell's website and there was no mention of the 93 octane being ethanol free. I'd be psyched to find that was the case cuz I live in massachusetts and all our gas has ethanol in it.
I'm interested to see what's going to happen now that the Prez has ok'd the 15% ETHANOL GAS
I'm interested to see what's going to happen now that the Prez has ok'd the 15% ETHANOL GAS
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Extreme HDF Member
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 11,615
Likes: 50
From: Baton Rouge, LA
I have noticed no problems using E10 in this bike. There are three stations in the metro area that sell eth-free high-octane gas, according to pure-gas.org. I've checked two of them and their prices far-exceed the 3% reported hit in gas mileage I'll suffer using E10 gas--15-20% higher. Of course E10 also stifles performance, so maybe I should try some for a comparison. OTOH it isn't practical to depend on so few stations, as most of the time I'm nowhere near them when I need gas. So, I just use the E10 and struggle along.
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Road Captain
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 586
Likes: 1
From: Falcon, CO
Didn't HD stop coating inside tanks back in ~2005? My 2010 SG looks to be bare steel inside and so does my wife’s 2009 Nightster and I have a spare 2007 sporty tank on the self and it looks to be bare steel also? Here in Colorado ALL gas from the pump has Ethanol in it for the past 5 plus years, it goes up in % in the winter. I have 7k on my SG with zero problems accept for a MPG and HP decrease when winter gas mix is used. When I store my bike I add a fuel stabilizer to fight the water content of the ethanol.
BTW, each state has it own rules on what gas mixture they use (% of Ethanol and other additives)
BTW, each state has it own rules on what gas mixture they use (% of Ethanol and other additives)
Last edited by cotnballs; Jan 24, 2011 at 12:38 PM.